Things Will Change
by pastahobo
Summary: Shikamaru is tired of being the one left behind, while his friends surpass him. And now he's going to do something about it. A oneshot story about team 10. Please R&R, better than it sounds, promise.


Things Will Change

Shikamaru let out a sigh as he reached out his hand in the direction of his alarm clock. The clock read 10am and Shikamaru knew that it was time for his shift at the ninja academy. It was his job to sort out the paper work for the upcoming Chunin exams, and occasionally to teach some of the classes. Shikamaru liked having little odd tasks like finding certain files for the teachers but sometimes he would miss going on missions with his teammates. After Asuma's death he never saw much of Ino or Choji. Sure, when he saw them on his way to the academy he would stop and have a chat but that was the most they saw each other.

Ino had given up on being a ninja and had instead focused on working full time in her mother's flower shop, she enjoyed it and besides it was a great way to meet men. There was no way she was losing to Sakura. At times it occurred to Shikamaru that maybe Ino had taken what Asuma said to her as he died a little too literally. On the other hand Choji was still a strong ninja, taking on missions regularly, most of the time he would group up with Kiba, Shino and Hinata. He fit straight in with them and before Choji knew it he was practically the team's new member. It was strange, seeing them get on so well with their lives, making Shikamaru feel a little sad. He felt that one by one his team had slowly drifted away from him, leaving him alone, stuck in the same place.

After getting out of bed Shikamaru made his way over to the bathroom, and went straight into the shower. After washing he changed into his every day clothes, his baggy pants, net t-shirt and his Chunin jacket. He grabbed Asuma's lighter and gripped it tightly before dropping it into his pocket. With one quick glance of his room he made his way to the ninja academy to start his long and tiresome shift.

As he walked down the busy street Shikamaru noticed crowds of people coming from the path to the right of him. He tried to look over the crowd, standing on his toes, trying to see what was going on. But it was no use. He sighed.

"Hmm. I wish Choji was here, I would be able to sit on his shoulders and see what's going on" thought Shikamaru.

He stood at the cross between the roads, his eyes flickering from one road to the next, unable to decide what to do.

"Well I'm sure the academy won't mind me being a little late. I'm sure they're used to it by now any way..." he said to himself, smirking as he headed towards the market.

Shikamaru loved the market, all of the gifts and food that they sold, the only problem was that he was never up early enough in the morning to visit them. So today for the first time in his life Shikamaru was thankful for having to wake up. As he wondered the street looking at stalls he found a man selling jewellery. He wasn't really interested in most of it but a certain pair of silver stud earrings caught his eye. They were very similar to the ones that asuma had given them, team 10 - the team that day by day, seemed to fall apart, before it was gone.

He recalled the day that they had been giving the earrings. He can distinctly remember Asuma saying that they were a gift for them all passing the Chunin exams. Shikamaru liked it then, when they were all together. He thought about Choji and Ino, about how they looked when he last saw them. He couldn't recall them wearing their earrings. This upset Shikamaru, making him shudder at the thought of the earrings stashed away in a cupboard or in a box. Just left there. To Shikamaru his earrings were his only connection to Asuma apart from his lighter. Out of everything shikamaru possessed those were the two things that he always kept with him, day and night.

"Hey you gonna pay for that?" came a voice from Shikamaru's side. It was the shop keeper, an old man with a stern face and eyes that were hidden under a mass of eyebrow.

"Sorry old man, calm down will 'ya?" said shikamaru, reaching into his back pocket and paying for the earrings. He walked away heading in the direction of the academy.

"Now I'm later than ever" he thought, feeling a little anxious but still keeping his cool and walking at a steady pace.

"Where have you been?" shrieked Iruka in an agitated tone, "You're 40 minutes late, I've had to look after two classes this morning, one of which you should be teaching!"

"I'm sorry ok, I just got a little sidetracked, it won't happen again." replied Shikamaru, trying to sound concerned but really he couldn't care less about what Iruka was saying.

"I've heard that one from you before... hmm. You're acting like you did when you were younger" said Iruka, still annoyed but his face had softened and he seemed to have a bit of a smirk on his face.

Shikamaru replied with a shrug of the shoulders much to Iruka's amusement, and he then talked him through the plan for the day. Shikamaru was to take one class that morning and one at around 2 so it meant he had the middle of the day and the evening off. His time off between classes would probably be taken up with doing odd tasks for the Hokage; he was too lazy to do it himself.

Shikamaru smiled to himself, he still couldn't work out how that knuckle-headed ninja Naruto became the leaf village's Hokage, and he never believed that he would actually do it. After a quick drink of water Shikamaru headed to his first class. It was a bunch of first years in the academy, of which included Hinata's younger sister Hinabi. Today the class was learning the proper technique to holding and using shiruken and kunai, and after showing them a demonstration the kids then had to write an essay on what they had learnt. It all seemed pretty pointless to Shikamaru, but then again he was told to follow the lesson plan and that was just what he was doing.

As he leaned back in his chair he glanced at the faces of the children, most of them were well enthralled by the current task, their pencils in their hands quickly sweeping across the paper. Shikamaru stopped when he reached Hinabi, her pencil was next to her paper and she just looked through the window next to her, her face expressionless. Shikamaru lifted himself to peek at her paper. The sheet was full with writing and diagrams, completely finished and all under 5 minutes. Shikamaru was astonished. He didn't understand kids, especially those from the Hyuga clan and was suddenly very grateful he was an only child.

Shikamaru made his way to the Hokage's office, prepared to be bombarded by paperwork and errands to be done. He sighed and was about to knock on the door when he heard a familiar voice. It was Choji.

He pressed his ear against the door trying to catch in with the conversation. Of what Shikamaru had gathered the new Team 8 had just been assigned on mission to find some extremely dangerous bandits that have been terrorising a neighbouring village. Shikamaru sighed, letting out a deep breath. It all sounded so exhilarating and exciting, he desperately whished that was what he could be doing. He quickly jumped away from the door as the voices came closer and hid around the corner of the corridor.

From the room came Choji, Kiba, Hinata and Shino all of them eager to start there next mission. Shikamaru stared at Choji's eyes as he passed; they looked tired and even a little sad compared to his friends around him. Once they had passed Shikamaru came out from the corridor and approached the Hokage's room. Before he entered he flicked his head round, trying to shout out to his friend. But when he looked they were already gone and he ended up choking on his words and only silence came out.

He turned back round and shut his eyes, giving himself a moment to compose himself before entering the Hokage's room. He went in the room only to find the Leaf village's new Hokage tucking into a bowl of tasty pork ramen. He looked up and gave Shikamaru a cheeky grin before carrying on eating. Shikamaru just gave him a sly smirk, this was exactly what he expected of Naruto, whether he was the leader of a village or not. He made his way to the desk while Naruto finished gulping down a last mouthful.

"So Shikamaru" he said handing his friend some paperwork "How have you been?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Hmm, so-so" he replied.

"Good, now I want to get straight to the point. I'm afraid I have been a bit stupid and forgotten to fill in those forms about the Chunin exams, and um, you see... eheheh, they have to be in for tomorrow"

Shikamaru let out a look of sheer terror. "WHAT?" he exclaimed, unable to believe this idiots disorganisation.

"I know, I'm really sorry but it's just I've been so busy!" cried Naruto pathetically.

Shikamaru could not believe it "What, busy meaning busy eating ramen?" he shrieked.

Naruto looked at him, making his eyes go big and all puppy-dog like. Shikamaru let out a grunt and then nodded, taking on the Hokage's request, as it was his duty to do so.

"Yay!" cried Naruto "Is there anything I can do for you Shikamaru?" he said his eyes wide with happiness.

"Well..." Shikamaru thought to himself. He wanted it to go back to the way it was, his life was too dreary, too dull and he was tired of taking the back seat while all of his friends surpassed him. "Actually there is. I was wondering if maybe you would allow me to take on missions again. I already have a two people in mind for the team"

Naruto thought, his eyes now serious stared at shikamaru, pondering, deciding.

"... You need four members for a team, did you think of that?"

Shikamaru stood there, his head swirling with thoughts.

"I have, and I know who it is. All though he may not be physically with us I know that he will be there in spirit." Shikamaru had an image of Asuma standing there with him, just how it was before he died.

"I have decided! I will let you start taking on missions again with your teammates, but I'm afraid that all though I'm very flattered I cannot be your 4th team mate. My duties are here, but you're right, I will be with you in spirit" he said with a grin as Shikamaru headed for the door.

"This guy is seriously deluded", he thought with and sigh as he left Naruto's office. But Naruto's stupidity wasn't important now, and Shikamaru was one step closer to getting his life back to how it used to be.

After his long day Shikamaru headed home for the evening, getting a drink of cola from the fridge as he headed to his room. He gulped down the drink before grabbing his phone from the side of his bed and sat down on his chair, with Asuma's lighter and the earrings in his other hand. He dialled Choji's number and twirled round in his chair as the phone rang. Someone picked up the phone, and shikamaru shot forward in his chair.

"Hello?" said a voice, sounding almost uncertain.

"Oh, hey Choji it's me Shikamaru" he replied letting out a sigh of relief. The first step was over, now just the rest of it.

"Oh hey! I didn't realise it was you dude. So what can I do for you?" said choji sounding utterly surprised.

Shikamaru laughed to himself, it was great to be talking to him. "Actually Choji I was wondering if maybe you would like to catch up later on maybe at... let's say 7?" he peered down and his watch, it was 6:00 now, so that gave him an hour to get there.

"We could meet up at that barbeque restaurant we always used to go to?" he asked.

"That would be great!" said Choji sounding genuinely pleased. Then his voice seemed to go a little lower and quieter "Actually there are some things I would like to talk to you about to... yeah, hmm, so um... 7 sounds great."

"Oh brilliant" said Shikamaru his face lighting up with gladness. "Yeah, actually could you also ask Ino to come along for me? This involves her to."

"Yeah, sure!" said choji sounding a little confused "Oh god, if Ino's coming I feel like I need to get her something. You know how she is, always expecting men to shower her with gifts"

Both boys started laughing; shikamaru actually had tears in his eyes not only with laughter but also with relief.

"Ha-ha, so I'll meet you and Ino outside the barbeque place in an hour, yeah?" said shikamaru, properly smiling again in what seemed like years.

"Sure thing Shikamaru" said Choji "Bye then"

"Bye".

Shikamaru pressed the end call button and placed the phone back in its holder. He held the earrings in his hand grinning to himself as he moved the box around in his fingers. He wasn't completely sure what Choji was planning to get Ino, but Shikamaru knew what he was going to give to her. And Choji. He gave the earrings once more a quick look then placed them into his pocket and headed for the door, the lighter in his hand. Everything was going to fall back into place. Shikamaru was certain of it.

The end.

Thanks for reading!

Pastahobo.


End file.
